Intro: Do you feel like you were meant to have a kick-ass career as a hair stylist? Like you got into this industry to make big things happen?
Maybe you’re struggling to build a solid base and want some stability. Maybe you know social media is important, but it feels like a waste of time because you aren’t seeing any results. Maybe you’ve already had some amazing success, but are craving more. Maybe you’re ready to truly enjoy the freedom and flexibility this industry has to offer.
Cutting and coloring skills will only get you so far, but to build a lifelong career as a wealthy stylist, it takes business skills and a serious marketing strategy. When you’re ready to quit, just working in your business and start working on it, join us here, where we share real success stories from real stylists.
I’m Britt Seva, social media and marketing strategist just for hair stylists, and this is the Thriving Stylist Podcast.
Britt Seva: What is up you guys, and welcome back to the Thriving Stylist Podcast. I’m your host Britt Seva, and if you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know one of my favorite things to do is myth bust common industry misconceptions.
This week, I want to talk about the dangers of double booking.
Now, if you came up in the industry thinking that double booking was normal, it’s what we should all aspire for, it’s something that you’ll graduate into, it’s how you’ll maximize your income, it’s how you’ll make your time in the salon as profitable as possible, that makes you normal.
That’s what I was certainly groomed to believe in this industry. I watched other stylists double book. I admired it. I thought it was amazing. I thought it looked like this beautiful dance they were pulling off and I looked forward to the day that I was going to be able to do that on the surface level.
We look at that as maximizing your potential. Why would you sit around when you could be taking another client in the 30, 45, 60 minute processing times that are left when you’re doing a lot of color clients? And so logically, it makes sense.
Unfortunately, it is inaccurate. It is not scalable, and it is something I would like you to strongly consider phasing out of your business sometime in the next two years.
So I want to go back and talk a little bit about what inspired this episode for me. I shared on my Instagram feed—which if you’re not following me yet, you can find me @brittseva and I share a lot of strategic tips there daily—I shared a post that talked about the risks of being booked far out on your schedule, right?
If you’re booked out three weeks, four weeks, five weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, 12 weeks and beyond on your calendar, you’re actually losing money. You’ve created a financial glass ceiling for yourself and if I were to coach you through that, you would make an additional 10, 20, $30,000 next year by decreasing the pressure on your schedule. I’ve done it thousands of times before. I know it to be true and when I posted that, I got this amazing comment.
A stylist said, “Britt, I’d love to know how you suggest not being booked out when you can only service one client at a time and we’re limited on the amount of stylists in the salon. Are you only referencing stylists that don’t have children at home when you say things like that? Stylists that aren’t trying to do hair and manage distance learning at the same time with our time limited after this pandemic and not being able to double book our clients, how are we to sustain our revenue without being booked out weeks and weeks?”
I loved this comment and I responded back to her and I said, “No, I’m not only referring to the stylists who aren’t trying to manage homeschooling and the effects of the pandemic and social distancing and how we’ve had to change our business structure. I’m actually speaking directly to that because if there is one thing we learned from this pandemic, it is the value of time and the realization that when we became hair stylists and salon owners,”—most of us did so because we thought we would gain flexibility, right? The idea of working a desk job nine to five felt like we were trapped within a schedule versus being stylists, we assumed “I’d be able to work the schedule that works for me and I’d have more flexibility,” yet the reality is most of us created a career where we have lost the flexibility.
So when I responded to her, I said, “No, the stylists that I’m coaching through Thrivers Society are managing all those things. They’re homeschooling their kids if that’s their choice or if that’s what they need to do, and still producing more revenue this year, 2020, in a pandemic year, then they produced in 2019, 2018, in the years before because they’ve created scalability in their business without things like double booking, without things like being booked out for weeks and weeks and weeks. And because they don’t rely on methods like that, they actually have the freedom and flexibility to live their biggest and best lives without feeling like ‘if I’m not behind the chair doing as much as I possibly can, I’m losing the game,’ which is how most of us feel when we do things like double book.”
I want to dive deep into the risks of double booking and I want to start by talking about why we double book.
The first reason is we were tricked into thinking that the key to success in our industry is to do more. We were told that from the time we were in cosmetology school, I was told that when I was assisting, it’s what was demonstrated to me, and it’s what logically made sense when I joined the industry.
The reality is when you look at any successful business in any industry, ours and beyond, those businesses do less, better. I’m going to say that again. When you look at any successful business in any industry, it is the business that does less, better. They have less products but they’re better than the rest. They do less work, but the quality is improved. They don’t do a gajillion things. They don’t do a massive amount of anything. They produce something very high quality in minimum quantity and they do it exceptionally well. That is how we create scalability and double booking does not allow for that.
Now there’s the second reason why we chose to double book and some of you already have this argument, like, “Yeah, I see what you’re saying, Britt, however, I like to maximize my time,” right?
The question becomes, “Why should I sit down for 45 minutes and flip through a magazine or scroll through Instagram while I have a color processing? I could easily squeeze in a haircut over that processing time and make an extra 40, 60, a hundred bucks instead of sitting in the back.”
I understand that logic, however, I want you to think about the choice you’re making when you do that. When instead of sitting down and doing whatever, which PS, if that were me, I would take the 45 minutes but I wouldn’t read a magazine or scroll Instagram. I would work on my marketing so my time is always well spent, but that’s a totally different podcast episode, right?
I don’t believe that time should be wasted. I think that our efforts working on building our business are much more productive and income producing than actually working behind the chair. But like I said, that’s a podcast for another day for me.
I want you to ask yourself this: When you are working back to back to back, overlap, overlap, overlap, overlap in that way, you are putting a massive strain on your body. An unsustainable, massive strain. You’re on your feet. You’re doing repetitive blowouts that apply stress to your shoulders and your arms and your back. You’re cutting for six or 10 hours a day. And even if you’re not cutting your brushing, you’re foiling.
The impact it has on your hands, your joints, your wrists—how many of you know people who have developed carpal tunnel before the age of 30 or before the age of 40 in our industry? It’s very common. Our bodies aren’t meant to sustain that level of activity long term.
So even if you right now are like, “I can totally double book. My body’s not even tired. I don’t even feel it,” that’s nice for now. How long do you think you’ll be able to sustain that for? Do you think you’ll be able to work double booked like that in 10 years, 20 years, 30 years?
Seriously, ask yourself that question and then ask somebody who’s 30 years more advanced than you. If they could work that way, my guess is that they couldn’t.
Then the question becomes how long can you really do this for? And then what’s your exit strategy out of it, right? So then the argument becomes “Well, Britt, I don’t do it all myself. When I double book, I have an assistant,” which feels so fancy, right? And I love it.
I was an assistant. I aspire to have an assistant. Assistants are amazing. I think assistants are a blessing. I think the opportunity to mentor an assistant is such a gift. I’m not against assistants, but that doesn’t solve the double booking issue by any means.
I actually think stylists that are single bookers should have assistants. I don’t believe that double booking needs to be a part of the equation at all, because here’s the deal—anybody who’s had an assistant will nod their head and resonate with what I’m about to say— you hire an assistant or two, and it’s so exciting because they do make an impact for a certain amount of time.
But then what happens, inevitably, is that assistant will leave, that assistant will promote, they’ll want their own share, they’ll quit, they’ll leave the state, they’ll leave the industry, whatever. That assistant is not going to assist for the next 20 years with you. They’re going to move on.
Now what you’ve created is another cycle and it’s a training cycle that you will never ever get out of. For the rest of your career, not only are you booking, you’re double booking and you’re committed to training somebody every single year because you will not sustain that assistant long term.
And when you take on an assistant, I want you to tell yourself, “I’m taking on a second job,” because training that incredibly ambitious new stylist is now your responsibility and you can’t do that two hours a month. It’s going to be an additional workload.
So when you did the double booking, you were trying to be more efficient, but when you hired the assistant, you actually added more to your plate, which is not scalability.
I understand we do it because we think we’re supposed to, but can you see how incredibly complex you’ve made your business? And it’s not that any of that is bad. I believe you can single book, have an assistant, and create less pressure for yourself, more freedom, and flexibility, and still make the profit margin. Like you can have it all without the overwhelm. It’s incredibly possible and achievable for you.
Then there’s reason number three why we double book: We say, “I don’t want to turn business away. There’s only so many hours in the day so running two columns or taking as many guests as possible while I’m in the salon—even if those guests are stacked on top of each other—that’s gotta be the way, right? This is a volume business. Time is money.”
The challenge with that is it doesn’t leave room for the margin for magic, which if you’ve been coaching with me for a while, you know that is essential. And that margin for magic is even more essential now. In a post-pandemic, post-salon closure, post-social distancing environment, clients want more of your time and more of that up-leveled experience.
When they feel like they’re part of a hair factory or a machine where it’s churn-and-go and you’re just trying to get through them fast, do you think they feel appreciated? Do you think they feel valued or do you think they feel, “I guess number 71,” like you’re ordering at a fast food restaurant?
That is 100% how they feel. And clients actually used to be okay with that, so if you’re like, “My clients never seem to mind,” that’s nice.
The post-2020 client minds. Consumer mindset has changed dramatically. Even probably your consumer mindset has changed dramatically. We’re a little more skeptical where we spend money. We want quality. We want time and we don’t want to just feel like a number. We’re looking for something elevated. And if you can’t provide that, they will find a stylist who can.
So having that margin for magic where it’s not just, “Hey, so glad to have you here. I’m going to pop in the back, mix your color. I’m going to come out and we’re going to catch up.” That’s not margin for magic at all. Or “Okay, you’re going to process, I’m going to pop over here and do Holly’s haircut. And then I’ll be right back with you.” Not margin for magic.
I’m not saying you have to sit there and talk to your client the whole time, because believe you me, if I was your client, I would not want you to sit there and talk to me the whole time. But I also don’t want to feel like I’m a part of your hair machine anymore. Eliminating double booking takes care of that.
The other thing is too, if you are in this two column stack, if you run later, you run long, you’re in a huge bind, right? Because now it doesn’t just mess up one client. It messes up six and the overlap gets messed up and you’re looking to catch up and you’re cutting corners and your assistants doing all these things and free treatments and all this stuff. So you’re losing margin. You’re not gaining anything; you’re creating chaos and that can’t be the way.
Then here’s the other catch, and I’m really big on this. This is another thing, like if there’s a key takeaway from the pandemic, can we remember that if we lose our health, we have nothing?
Health, family time have to come first. Those are the things we wanted to prioritize coming into this industry, so let’s not forget that’s what we’re here for, is to have an abundance of time, health, and family, right?
How many of you are afraid to call in sick or we’ll work with a bad back or we’ll show up to work even if your kids are home sick because calling out on your clients is too much work? The idea of having to reschedule your entire day is so nightmarish that it’s not even worth it. You’d rather be in the salon with strep throat taking guests than calling in sick because it’s not worth it.
How many of you were in that boat? That is not an effective way to work. We can’t be putting that kind of pressure on ourselves and double booking, and having to cancel not only six clients but 14 adds to that pressure, right?
We’re not creating scalability. We’re creating a trap for ourselves. I want you to go back. Double booking is something we put into place because we think it’s going to create freedom and growth. It actually creates unnecessary pressure and additional work instead of that freedom lifestyle.
And there’s a reason I don’t coach to double booking in Thrivers Society. I don’t think it’s what we should be striving towards. I’m not against it. If you want to do it, that’s fine. I just think it’s important to understand the risks and the choices you’re making because I think we think it’s creating something that it is not. I just want you to have a really well-educated opinion on double booking.
I want to go back and take a look at the four stylist archetypes I coach to. The fourth one is the Scaling stylist. It’s where I want you all aspiring to be.
The Scaling stylist has plenty of free time and plenty of money, which is obviously what we all want. For me, the Scaling stylist works a dream schedule, which likely means no evenings or weekends, and a lot of Thrivers enjoy that. No evenings, no weekends, a short work week. So three or four days a week, or two days a week, or whatever they want.
But to me, five days a week, a lot of evenings and weekend shifts is something a new stylist should be working and then it should be something you graduate past.
If you say, “Well, all of my clients want those appointments,” there’s something wrong in your marketing and there’s something wrong in the way we’re serving our guests and we have not created scalability. So that’s something to troubleshoot—different podcasts, different day.
But you should have a great schedule, full financial freedom—and financial freedom means no financial stress or pressure. Your income grows significantly year over year without a glass ceiling. You should have breathing room in your schedule and that income increases without you having to work more and more.
You can’t be the only producer of income. It can’t be “if I want to make more money, I have to show up and work harder.” That’s not scalable in any business so we have to get out of that mindset.
But things like double booking into our business, it’s actually the antithesis of scalability. You’ve chosen to work more, to make more versus working less/more efficiently to earn more. Can you see the difference in that?
And I know why you did this. Driven stylists, those who do get a taste of true scalability, are tempted to take on more. I’m a “more” as well. I always want to add more to my plate. The challenge is you take on more, you lose time, you lose health.
Yeah, you might make some more money, but it’s not sustainable and your body can’t take it long term. You’re adding additional mental pressure onto yourself, physical pressure onto yourself, and it is not a long term growth strategy by any means.
I know some of you listening to this are still hooked on your double booking, or maybe it’s something you were shooting towards and you’ve given it some time to think. I want you to chew on this idea about double booking and if it’s really what you want your business model to look like.
How many of you were stylists double booking and you had a specific income level and now with social distancing protocol, you can no longer double book and you feel like your income potential was just cut in half? It makes us feel vulnerable and out of control versus stylists who follow a methodology like Thrivers Society or something like that where they don’t double book.
And, you know, being out of work for several months wasn’t ideal and it caused pressure but once they were able to go back, their income level was where it was before or increased and they didn’t take a major financial loss. They’re continuing to scale and grow. This is one of those great lessons from this period that we went through in 2020, is that we put a lot of safety nets and layers into our business. They give us an artificial sense of security and I just truly believe double booking is one of them. I don’t think the key to success is doing more, working more, putting more stress on ourselves. I believe it’s true efficiency.
I want to ask you a few questions as you close out this episode here so you can decide what you think is best for you and your business.
Question number one: For how long do you truly think you can take this volume of clients and once your body can’t do it anymore, like if you’re a double booker, how long can you sustain this volume of clients that you had been taking or you are currently taking, and once your body can’t do that volume of clients anymore, how will you continue to sustain your revenue?
If your plan is not to sustain your revenue, if you’re like, “it’s cool if my revenue goes down once I hit the age of 45, 50, 55, 60. Like towards the end of my career, I want to make less money.” Well, that’s not what most successful people are hoping for. But if that’s your choice, I can respect that. But you need to have a financial safety net plan so when you choose to stop double booking, you don’t have to have a dramatic lifestyle decrease because your income level has dramatically decreased. So how are you going to sustain that?
If you don’t believe me that there will come a time in your career where you can’t physically double book anymore, talk to stylists who are 10, 15, 20, 25 years ahead of you. They’ll tell you it’s true. It’s impossible to do 20 clients a day for the entire lifetime of your career.
And even if you get to the point where you have two assistants, you’re deeper into your career, and you have people helping you, how long are you willing to train those people for? Just really think long term and down the road.
If due to the pandemic, you can’t double book anymore, what is your 90 day plan to improve your revenue without double booking? What if in our industry it’s determined that double booking is no longer possible? What if there are capacity limits in some states forever? And you know, this is the unknown. Maybe that sounds wild and crazy, but if in 2019, I had told you, some salons will be closed for six months this year, you would have thought that was wild and crazy too. We have to think about all of those variables of, “Okay, if double booking ends up being something that causes me not to retain clients or if double booking stops being a fad, or if no stylists are double booking anymore, what is my growth plan?”
That is the reality for some of you. You are no longer able to double book. So rather than being a victim of it, say, “Okay, what can I do in the next 90 days that will allow me to grow and evolve my current business and chair, still allow me to be home with my family, my kids, whatever I need during the time I need to be there, and continue to grow this business?”
Because let me tell you, there are stylists doing it. You just need the plan to make it happen. And often it just takes stepping back, releasing those old ideas of what it looks like to be successful, and creating a new frame and vision of success for yourself.
Then number three: Do I think my clients liked the guest experience more or less if I’m not double booking?
Do you think your clients are happier or more sad if you seem less rushed? If you’re not juggling multiple clients at once and if you seem like your workflow is more manageable? I know the answer, but I want you to think of it for yourself, right?
Question number four: Do I feel like I currently have freedom and flexibility in my career as a stylist? I think that’s a really good question for all of us to answer. If you don’t currently feel like you have freedom and flexibility, what is your plan to get there?
You guys, if you ever need any help in coaching, I’d love for you to check out my program, Thrivers Society, you can head to thriverssociety.com.
Also at the end of this year, 2020, I’ll be releasing my program called Best Year Yet. I’ve posted it for the last few years. I know that you will absolutely love it, so keep an eye out for it.
You guys so much love, happy, happy business building, and I’ll see you on the next one.
